


Ladders and Snakes

by EllieMurasaki



Series: Roll Those Loaded Dice [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-02
Updated: 2012-03-02
Packaged: 2017-11-01 00:50:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/350164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/pseuds/EllieMurasaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Abby is fourteen, with ten years to live.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ladders and Snakes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darthjamtart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darthjamtart/gifts).



  


Abigail Charlton is the picture of poise at her parents' funeral.

"What a tragedy," say Abby's relations. "I'm praying for you," say Abby's mother's friends. "I'm sorry for your loss," say Abby's father's employees.

"Thank you," Abby says to one and all, and "I miss them too," she tells her mother's sister.

No one is churlish enough to mention the comfort surely brought by the two million pounds that Abby will have access to on her eighteenth birthday.

Eighteen isn't soon enough, though. Abby is fourteen, with ten years to live. She can't waste four years waiting for the money. If she's learned one thing from her parents, it's that money cures all ills, and Abby would rather be out from under the threat of total annihilation after death (that's what hell is, after all, the simple cessation of existence; the Church of England says so) sooner than later.

If _only_ she'd had access to her money _before_ , more than the allowance she's been getting, more even than the allowance she'll get now. Or even if she'd gotten access to all her money upon her parents' deaths. No hired gun would work for pay that won't come for years. (She tried that first.)

The day after the funeral, Abby goes to Isabella Walker, her father's accountant. "Tell me what all this means," Abby says.

"How much do you know about accounting?" Isabella asks.

"Nothing whatsoever," Abby says. "That's why I'm asking you."

Isabella walks Abby through the basics of accounting: debits must always equal credits, assets plus liabilities must always equal equity. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. Income statements, statements of owner's equity, balance sheet, statement of cash flows. Abby will never have the patience to be an accountant, and the numbers on the paper are different every time she looks at them, but this is how Abby knows how much money she has. This is something it is important—no, _vital_ —for Abby to know.

Abby goes to her father's investment broker next, one William Talbot. This is where the money comes from, where mommy pound and daddy pound (whatever's left from Abby's allowance after food and clothing are taken care of, that is) make lots of little baby pounds. Abby listens patiently to William's explanation of the importance of investing in a variety of financial instruments—stocks, bonds, and the like—and in a variety of each type of financial instrument, and the importance of not rearranging her investment portfolio more often than once a year. Abby is patient, that is, until William says that if Abby's sensible, the best she can expect is to do just about as well as the market does.

"I don't want to be sensible," Abby says. "I want to be fabulously wealthy." _I want to be alive in ten years._ "Daddy made his money in stocks, so why can't I?"

William gives Abby a long look. "You really are remarkably like your father."


End file.
